COTW: Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?

One of the many excuses the POS had for not voting to give their constituents some more economic relief as the pandemic grinds on with new varients popping up, is that the $1.9 trillion in aid is too much because jobs are coming back on line. This claim is based on a modest increase in labor statistics showing about 375,000 jobs added since the last report. But look....at this chart from the St. Louis Fed:

It shows that based on a ratio of employed to the working age population, a broader and more accurate representation of the labor market than narrow BLS definitions, the miniscule increase in jobs of 0.2% since October is nowhere near the pre-pandemic levels of employment. The ratio drops during each recession cum depression but recovers each time, until 2000. That data confirms what is generally believed to be the situation: companies continue to outsource jobs to low wage zones or replace labor with automation or temporary employment. The rentless capitalist quest for lower labor costs is reflected in the bipartisan refusal to raise a minimum wage to a livable level. So the POS claims are just more reactionary propaganda that even Moscow Mitch does not believe. 

 

Once a Green?